Outback Australia in the mid-1800s.
When rich, domineering squatter Angus McAlpin is murdered, the obvious suspect is the penniless artist, Herbert Lindsey - who wants to marry his daughter, Flora.
McAlpin may have proclaimed that Flora would marry Herbert 'only over his dead body' - and Herbert's bloodstained knife and handkerchief were found near the murder scene - but the artist denies any wrongdoing.
So begins a compelling murder mystery and trial, as the heiress seeks to prove her lover's innocence, and a country town takes sides.
Force may have killed Angus McAlpin, but fraud follows murder in a cunning plan to see Herbert Lindsey hanged - by any means necessary.
For someone else is determined to marry Flora, to obtain her property and her person; and he will stop at nothing.
Praise for Force and Fraud: 'Stunning historical mystery. Court scene worthy of Perry Mason' - Kerry Greenwood
